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Achievement unlocked (again): Skydiving in Australia

Published November 7, 2016 by iconjen

It is every weekend warrior’s dream to jump from an airplane. It is the epitome of adrenaline, thrill, and one big life achievement. Skydiving is, without a doubt, in every adventurer’s bucket list. If you’re a thrill-seeker, I’m pretty sure this one’s on your list too.

Tandem skydiving, where you are strapped to the body of a licensed skydiver (aka your partner), has become popular over the years as social media practically took over most of our lives. However, tandem skydiving in the Philippines is a wee bit expensive (starting from Php 15,000); that’s the main reason why there might be only a handful of personal friends you know who has done it. Apart from that, there’s not a lot of skydiving tour operators in the country, not to mention their slots are almost always limited. Their schedules are, of course, dependent on weather conditions and for some, on tourism peak/off-peak seasons as well. The only skydiving tour operators I’m aware of, or at least well-known, are in Bantayan Island, Cebu (http://www.skydivecebu.com/), Clark, Pampanga (http://www.philballoonfest.net/), and Vigan, Ilocos Sur (http://www.skydivegreatervigan.com/).

These are the reasons why when we came to Australia last year, I decided to go for it and book my first, and certainly not the last, skydiving experience. I did my jump in Brisbane, with Jump The Beach as the tour operator (https://www.jumpthebeachbrisbane.com.au/). It was priced pretty reasonable, it was fun, and the experience was amazing. Check out my video below.

I enjoyed it, really. And I wanted more. So when my friend from high school went here in Australia for a quick 10-day vacation a month ago, we grabbed the opportunity to go skydiving. This time, here in Sydney.

We wanted to do it in Wollongong because I believe the view there is more spectacular. Unfortunately, on the day that we decided to book, the schedule was already full. So, we ended up booking with Sydney Skydivers (http://sydneyskydivers.com.au/). They have the same price as any other skydive tour operators, which excludes the videos and photos. If you want to have your photos and video taken during the entire experience, you’ll have to pay for it separately.

Funny story: originally, only my friend and I wanted to go skydiving. Upon learning of our planned adventure, my friend’s mom, and her friend, and her friend’s daughter, wanted to tag along. Long story short, they were all excited and hyped before the jump, but after jumping and once on the ground, it’s as if the life of them were taken away.

The jump site was pretty far, about an hour and a half bus ride, from Sydney. We originally booked for the second jump of the day which was 11AM but due to weather conditions, we were moved to an earlier schedule, 7:30AM. Once we got to the jump site, the usual orientation and briefing took place and after half an hour waiting, it was our turn to fly.

The quick ascent to 14,000ft wasn’t anything fancy, really, as compared to my experience in Brisbane. However, the jump itself was awesome. Due to my previous experience I had some idea what to do once we got off the airplane. I believe this was the main reason why my photos and video looked good as compared to my other companions 😀 The descent was fast, and after 10-15 seconds of free fall and passing through clouds, my partner opened the chute and we landed safely on the drop zone.

Not much to tell, really. Just watch the video below.

What about you? Have you experienced skydiving before? Comment below and tell us your story!